None of the 12 cities on the 2013 Amgen Tour of California is in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

New this year is the course will go from south to north. Cyclists will travel approximately 750 miles from May 12-19.

The official race start will begin and finish in Escondido. The next day, Stage 2 will take riders through the hot desert terrain from Murrieta to Greater Palm Springs. For Stage 3, the race will return to Palmdale for a stage start and then travel approximately 100 miles west to Santa Clarita. The city, which hosted the race in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011, will also serve as the start of Stage 4. From there, the cyclists will ride north toward Santa Barbara, which last hosted the race in 2008, for the Stage 4 finish.

The race will remain in Santa Barbara for the start of Stage 5, with Avila Beach being the Stage 5 finish. San Jose will play host to Stage 6 and the Individual Time Trial, marking the eighth consecutive year the race has visited the city. San Jose is the only city to participate in all eight editions of the race.

Stage 7 will start in Livermore and head to Mt. Diablo for an intense mountaintop finish. The eighth and final stage of the 2013 Amgen Tour of California will start in San Francisco and finish in Santa Rosa, which played host to the official race start last year.